Classic Media and Sunshine Mills' team provided supermarkets with a range of high-quality dry pet dog foods. Their packaging features a standing, re-sealable PET bag, 20 pounds.
When a deeply loved idol-grade pet dog uses a cry to express its appreciation for the new high-class pet dog food, the store will hear this reaction. This is exactly what happened on the brand new Natural Way(TM) pet dog food signed by Lassie(TM). Consumer-friendly, flexible bag-pack design of all-natural pet dog food began to be a faithful ally of the supermarket's sales channel to win victory in the pet food battle.
Lassie has even given shoppers new tips for affecting dog lovers. Classic Media, owner and licensee of Lassie copyright, partnered with pet food producer Sunshine Mills to develop a range of superior natural dry dog foods without adding any animal by-products and artificial colors, preservatives or sweeteners . The team also recognized the packaging
Need for distinctive convenience and excellent graphics to meet consumer needs. To do this, they sought help from Alcan Packaging Food Americas.
The use of more convenient performance is more outstanding
After receiving instructions for a professional pet store to create high-end bags that emulate the look and feel of premium foods, Alcan Packaging designed a three-layer PET square sealed bag. Pressing the seal zipper makes it easy to open and reseal the package. Vertical packaging provides more than just operational convenience. It also provides retail with the appearance of a superior shelf that can attract consumers' attention.
“This is a high-end package that far surpasses the performance of the general packaging on the grocery store shelves, and is also ideal for premium pet foods,” said Richard Young, director of packaging at Sunshine Mills. “At the moment, many of the goods in the supermarket are multi-layer paper. Others have forgotten that the paper bags are on the side. From the standpoint of market demand, flexible plastic packaging is convenient and attractive for consumers. The comparison between plastic and paper pet food packaging is just as much a comparison between Lexus and Ford."
Glenn Pecoraro, vice president of retail marketing at Classic Media added, “The Lassie Natural Way brand offers supermarkets what they need for competition: high-quality products, packaging innovations, and the first 20-pound standing pet food including supermarket distribution channels. Bag and Lassie's signature, Lassie is an immortal cultural fulcrum and trustworthy brand.”
The supermarket pet food corridor certainly needs help from the "best friend". In September 2006, a new study released by Packaged Facts, “American Pet Food” confirmed that the sales share of supermarket distribution channels is continuously losing. In 2005, the share of supermarkets was 26%. Since supermarkets and professional pet stores concentrated their energy on this growing market, and their respective market share was 34% and 25%, supermarkets in this respect have Lost its position.
Classic Media's statistics - and perceived opportunities - have not diminished. With the promise of determining the right to use the patent - not only for the company but also for the maintenance of the historic Lassie brand image - the company realized that pet dog food would be a key commodity category.
"It is necessary to join the pet dog food market," explains Pecoraro. "About 85% to 90% of the dollars spent in the pet market are used on consumer pet foods, so this represents a huge potential for our brand."
“We saw the strategic advantage of the supermarket-specific Lassie Natural Way senior pet dog food,” he said. "The reasonable price of this brand can compete with high-end professional pet store brands. The natural formula and high-end positioning are all sought after by consumers."
Innovative application of reclosable vertical bag
The great interest from retailers means that every member of the team must act quickly to produce the product. In particular, when important retailers have already arranged for a review of pet food types, they plan to re-launch within 12 weeks regardless of whether the company’s Lassie Natural Way is ready. It is in this context that Alcan Packaging has ensured that the task is completed before the deadline.
Alcan Packaging brought together all of its supply chain partners to a meeting, including bag maker TechniPac. They designed a production schedule and all the partners agreed.
When it comes to a three-month time limit, Young admits, “Frankly, we never want to be affected by deadlines.” “We have never produced dry pets in soft, resealable standing bags. Dog Food Previously we had cooperated with Alcan on many products, but this time it was a completely different cooperation.
It is thought that it may take a year and a half to complete the production line. ”
Alcan Packaging begins with the analysis of the structure of the bag to determine the best packaging solution for the market. Raw materials are specified and can be purchased. Approved packaging patterns and diecut lines must be completely defined. Sunshine Mills then tested the bags on-line to detect structural performance. Alcan Packaging produced and delivered 100,000 units/min. stock keeping units (SKUs) in the 90-day period up to the closing date—in other words, 1.2 million bags.
Mike Schmitt, president of Alcan Packaging Food Americas, acknowledged that the lead time for this project was very special, but at the same time claimed that it was part of a business in a highly competitive market. "Manufacturers are looking for supply chain solutions," he said. "The partners they need are companies that are flexible, dynamic, resourceful and able to make themselves part of the value proposition."
Bringing products to retailers' shelves on time is not the only benefit of Lassie Natural Way packaging. Production performance is also a key factor in the development of bag structures. At the beginning of the project, Sunshine Mills proposed Alcan Packaging to use a competitive packaging bag as a reference point. After analysis, the company recommended a method intended to improve appearance and performance.
3-layer sealing structure of PET film
“The coefficient of friction (COF) on the initial, competitive packaging bag is like a layer of coating. This gives the bag a 'dirty' sensation, and the image is smeared due to the phenomenon of smearing. The quality has become very poor," Schmitt explained. "Our solution is to use a film with the best COF properties to produce the desired adhesion to increase productivity and improve the packaging image produced to appeal to consumers."
The final 3-layer square seal structure is equipped with an adjusted high COF PET outer layer, a metallized PET inner layer with barrier properties, and a patented sealing film.
"Alcan met the requirements of our bags and also improved them," said Young. "Lassie bags give us unique patterns, they are ideally stacked and run smoothly on our equipment."
"The excellent packaging is accompanied by excellent products and great brands," Pecoraro admitted. "The success of Lassie Natural Way's initial stage has been very good. We have received a lot of good feedback and retailers are very satisfied with the product."
Reprinted from: Packaging Expo
